How do I math these meds?

July 27, 2023 9:21 AM

I have to take a medicine three times per week. Um, how do I make that add up? It has to be taken at bedtime so I can't just math the # of hours and spread it out that way.

There are two parts to this.

1: I will be taking it for 2-3 weeks before seeing my doc. So somewhere between 14-21 days.
2: I might have to take it in perpetuity, so infinite # of days.

How do I figure out how 3x/week works with a 7-day week?

(Apologies to everyone for whom this is a ridiculously simple question -- I am a word person not a math person so this baffles me.)

posted by BlahLaLa to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

It’s basically every other day, with one time you will have two days in between instead of one. Call your pharmacist and ask them what schedule they recommend. I guarantee they will have an answer for you and some thoughts.
posted by Bottlecap at 9:24 AM on July 27, 2023 [10 favorites]

Monday, Wednesday, Saturday.

Or Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday.

Each of these is 3x per week.

Alternatively you can take it every other day, which is 3.5 times per week on average.
posted by muddgirl at 9:25 AM on July 27, 2023

Best answer: Monday - meds
Tuesday
Wednesday - meds
Thursday
Friday - meds
Saturday
Sunday
posted by wheatlets at 9:25 AM on July 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is not you--those are strange directions! I would call the pharmacy and ask about these directions to find out what they recommend, because my inclination would be to take every other day, so some weeks I would take 3x and some weeks 4x, but I don't know if that's right.
posted by epj at 9:27 AM on July 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: It doesn't have to be evenly spaced. I picked three days (MWF, for example) and stuck with that.

I did try the "every other day" thing, but by the end of week 2 I had forgotten what part of the schedule I was on. Consistency is best.
posted by rakaidan at 9:27 AM on July 27, 2023 [3 favorites]

You are overthinking this - medications given 3x week have a long half-life or duration of effect, so as long as you are taking the right number of doses per week, the precise day doesn’t much matter.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday is fine.
posted by tinkletown at 9:52 AM on July 27, 2023 [7 favorites]

I do this with one of my meds. I went with Monday-Wednesday-Friday.

I take a lot of meds for various illnesses and conditions, so I prepare a week's worth of meds in one of those week-long containers. It makes it much easier to know when I've taken a pill. If the day's pills are in their section, I need to take them that day. No worrying about whether I took the three-a-week pill; they're just in their section on the box on their day.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:25 AM on July 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

I would do MWF because I always forget stuff on the weekends. I’d consider changing the “weekend” timing if the meds gave me side effects on the second missed day that were incompatible with my typical Sunday (or Monday before-med) plans.
posted by tchemgrrl at 10:55 AM on July 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Trying to do every other day can lead to disastrous/hilarious results.
posted by misterbrandt at 5:55 PM on July 27, 2023 [6 favorites]